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Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, and read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters. For media inquiries, please email us.

Understanding the Potential of Summer Jobs Programs for Youth in Philadelphia

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of being offered a summer job through Philadelphia’s WorkReady program on outcomes related to criminal justice involvement, employment, and education.

Improving Student Learning through Pay-for-Performance Teacher Contracts in Rwanda

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of pay for performance contracts on teachers’ qualities, effort, and student learning in Rwanda. Pay for performance improved teacher effort, particularly their presence in classroom and their pedagogical effectiveness, and raised...

Text message reminders decreased failure to appear in court in New York City

Researchers partnered with policymakers in New York City to evaluate the impacts of a redesigned court summons form and text message reminders on failure to appear (FTA) in court. A randomized evaluation found that text message reminders were able to reduce FTA by up to 26 percent, translating to 3...

Community-Based Forestry Management to Improve Natural Resource Management and Farming Productivity in Ethiopia

Erwin Bulte
Goytom Abraha Kahsay
Fekadu Tefera Meka
researchers are evaluating the impact of CBFM on farmers’ agricultural productivity, adoption of modern technology, rural livelihoods, and forest conservation.

Cash and In-kind Transfers to Increase Profits of Microenterprises in Ghana

Microenterprises often struggle to survive and grow after their initial start-up. A key issue for policymakers is understanding how to best encourage the survival and growth of resource-constrained firms by using policy tools like unrestricted cash grants and conditional transfers of materials or...

Estimating the Human Costs of Debtor Prisons

In Egypt, a sizable portion of the prison population is incarcerated solely for failing to repay private debts, highlighting serious concerns about the social, economic, and legal consequences of debtor imprisonment. Researchers are conducting two randomized evaluations, the first tests the impact...

The Effects of Performance Pay among Private School Teachers in Pakistan

Researchers worked with a large private school network in Pakistan to evaluate the effects of performance raises on outcomes such as teacher behavior, student learning, and student socioemotional development. They found that, compared to flat payments, performance pay attracted more high-quality...